"Wow. Cold, Sage. Very cold."
"Hey, now." I felt a little indignant at the accusation. "I'm not going to promise to marry him or something and then dump him later. He wrote me about going to dinner when I'm there. We'll have a nice time, and I'll try to talk him into letting me tour the facility. That's it."
"And 'talking him into it' doesn't involve putting out?"
I glared at him and hoped he could see me in his periphery. "Adrian. Do I really seem like the kind of person who'd do that?"
"Well - " He stopped, and I suspected he'd held back from some snarky comment. "No, I suppose not. Certainly not with a guy like him. Did you get a dress?"
Here we were again, Adrian randomly jumping topics. "For dinner and the service? I've got plenty."
"I guess that answers my question." He seemed to wage a great mental battle. At last, he said, "I'm going to give you some advice."
"Oh no."
He looked over at me again. "Who knows more about male weakness: you or me?"
"Go on." I refused to directly answer the question.
"Get a new dress. One that shows a lot of skin. Short. Strapless. Maybe a push-up bra too." He actually had the audacity to do a quick assessment of my chest. "Eh, maybe not. But definitely some high heels."
"Adrian," I exclaimed. "You've seen how Alchemists dress. Do you think I can really wear something like that into a church service?"
He was unconcerned. "You'll make it work. You'll change clothes or something. But I'm telling you, if you want to get a guy to do something that might be difficult, then the best way is to distract him so that he can't devote his full brainpower to the consequences."
"You don't have a lot of faith in your own gender."
"Hey, I'm telling you the truth. I've been distracted by sexy dresses a lot."
I didn't really know if that was a valid argument, seeing as Adrian was distracted by a lot of things. Fondue. T-shirts. Kittens. "And so, what then? I show some skin, and the world is mine?"
"That'll help." Amazingly, I could tell he was dead serious. "And you've gotta act confident the whole time, like it's already a done deal. Then make sure when you're actually asking for what you want that you tell him you'd be 'so, so grateful.' But don't elaborate. His imagination will do half the work for you. "
I shook my head, glad we'd almost reached our destination. I didn't know how much more I could listen to. "This is the most ridiculous advice I've ever heard. It's also kind of sexist too, but I can't decide who it offends more, men or women."
"Look, Sage. I don't know much about chemistry or computer hacking or photosynthery but this is something I've got a lot of experience with." I think he meant photosynthesis, but I didn't correct him. "Use my knowledge. Don't let it go to waste."
He seemed so earnest that I finally told him I'd consider it, though I had a hard time imagining myself wearing anything like he'd described. My answer satisfied him, and he said no more.
When we reached the bed-and-breakfast, I put on the brown wig so that we could be Taylor and Jet again. I braced myself as we approached the door.
"Who knows what we're walking into?" I murmured. I'd been very brave while speaking to Ms. Terwilliger, but the reality that I might be going right up to an evil sorceress was sinking in. I had yet to develop the ability to sense magic in others, so I could very well be taken by surprise if she had a way to hide her appearance too. All I could do was have faith that Adrian's spirit and Ms. Terwilliger's charm would mask me. If Veronica was there, we'd just seem like an ordinary couple. I hoped.
Alicia was reading another magazine when we walked in. She still sported the same hipster glasses and clutter of gaudy necklaces. Her face lit up when she saw us. "You're back."
Adrian's arm immediately went around me. "Well, when we heard Veronica was in town again, we wanted to come see her right away. Right, honeydew?"
"Right," I said. At least he was going with healthier nicknames today.
"Oh." Alicia's sunny smile dimmed a little. "She just left."
"You have got to be kidding," I said. How could our luck be this bad? "So, she checked out?"
"No, she's still renting out the Velvet Suite. I think she was just running errands. But. . . ." She turned sheepish. "I may have, uh, ruined the surprise."
"Oh?" I asked very carefully. I felt Adrian's hold on me tense, but there was nothing romantic about it.
"I couldn't resist. I told her she might have some unexpected visitors soon. Good visitors," she added. "I wanted to make sure she didn't stay out too long."
"That's very nice of you," said Adrian. His smile looked as strained as mine felt. In trying to "help" us, Alicia might very well have ruined everything.
What did we do now? I was saved from an immediate decision when a middle-aged woman walked through the door.